By Anisha Sircar
(Reuters) - China's 5% economic growth target for 2024 announced this week is ambitious and can be achieved if backed by further stimulus measures in monetary, fiscal and regulatory policy, analysts said.
"Further stimulus measures will (need to) be announced ... to achieve the targets set out," Bill Maldonado, the head of asset manager Eastspring Investments, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum.
Premier Li Qiang's maiden work report fell short of expectations on several measures, said Shuyan Feng, deputy general manager for investment management at Huatai Asset Management, pointing specifically to the country's budget deficit as well as plans to issue 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in special ultra-long term treasury bonds.
Foreign investors saw the report as lacking any positive indicators, she said.
Feng, whose firm handles over $100 billion in assets, was concerned about several aspects of China's fiscal support policies and the administration's communication style, expressing disappointment at the absence of any additional measures on an expected real estate rescue package.
Kyle Rodda, senior markets analyst at Capital.com, expects the ongoing National People's Congress (NPC) to re-anchor the narrative to President Xi Jinping's longer-term vision for China.
However, the work report indicated how little the administration's approach has changed, he said.
"There was again no indication of a pivot to more short-term, counter-cyclical policy on the horizon ... (which) should not be surprising. It's a continuation of recent form."
Cheap valuations and constructive price action make China's short-term investment outlook look favourable, Rodda said, however, warning that key long-term risks, including country risk, systemic risk, and regulatory uncertainty, persist.
In this backdrop, Eastspring, which is Prudential (LON:PRU) Plc's Asia investment management arm, is staying the course with its contrarian "positive" stance on Chinese equities.
Investing in China merits a strategic approach focusing on policy-centric sectors such as electric vehicle supply chains, green initiatives, and semiconductor technology, to weather the current landscape, Eastspring's CEO Maldonado said.
"Sentiment is extremely poor... (but) in terms of the growth trajectory, things are probably better than many assume," said Maldonaldo, whose firm managed $216 billion in assets as of September 2023.
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